Reysha kept a hand on her mouth, to keep her from spitting out the mouthful of cooked meat that she had just stuffed in there. To chew it was like biting on worms in an apple made of maggots, minus the writhing. After the bare minimum, she swallowed the meat. Stomach acid met it halfway, but she managed to wrestle it all down.
Immediately she grabbed the waterskin. What others would have described as the delicious, rich juices of nicely seared meat, to her was a sour and bitter mixture that could not be rinsed out of her mouth fast enough. She gargled and spat, then repeated it.
“Is it really that bad?” Korith asked. Unlike the other two, she had never seen Reysha fight the effects Noir had on her tastebuds. For as long as the kobold had known the Ragressian, there had always been some option to spice up their meals with the magic required to keep her condition appeased.
“Imagine you have a pile of money,” Reysha told the shortstack. An easy mental image, Korith always imagined treasure that would fill Hoard with joy. “A truly gargantuan heap of valuables that you can give to that scamming deity of yours. Now imagine shoving that pile into an endless black chasm.”
“N-no…!” Korith reached out for the imaginary treasure, as it vanished into the Abyss.
“Take that feeling and turn it into a taste.” Reysha stared at the remains of the skewer in her hand. “That’s what eating this shit is like.”
Apexus had no comment on that. He was half man, half blob presently, gradually dissolving the sow carcass inside of him. The tastiest and softest cuts had been removed for consumption by the rest of the party. Aclysia was on cooking duty. Despite not typically partaking in eating herself, she enjoyed preparing and seasoning the meals. Just another manifestation of her caretaking instincts.
They were two days south of the ruins. Against Apexus’ expectations, there had not been any rain at all so far. The sky was clear and blue, the weather pleasantly warm. Had it not been for the food she was required to choke down, Reysha would have been in a good mood. They finally experienced warm weather again.
Forcing herself, Reysha took another bite of the meat. Much as she hated the taste, she hated being weaker even more. The will triumphed over the body. Strong as the urge to vomit was, she filled her stomach with the protein and fat she required to keep going. To cleanse her palette, Aclysia allowed her to take a lick of salt from their storage. She drank a huge gulp of water afterwards. The intense taste of raw salt was preferable to the death her mouth would have otherwise been filled with.
“Fuck whichever god made this backwater shithole,” Reysha croaked afterwards. “Can’t a gal have a single edible fucking animal in the wilds?!”
“To the normal person, there’s plenty of edible game around,” Aclysia pointed out. “The god credited for the creation of this Leaf was merciful when it came to the wildlife. A regular person would struggle to hunt a bear that can hurl lightning.”
“Sounds like they should get better at hunting.”
“Perhaps you should merely decrease your selfishness.”
“That’s going to happen at the same time your butt stops being juicy,” Reysha responded immediately.
Aclysia opened her mouth, then sighed. As per usual, their back and forth ended with her failing to find a retort in time. She prodded her thoughts for anything, failed to produce anything, and thus the conversation ended there. Apexus and Korith kept munching on their food. “Darling, how much further would you like to travel?” Aclysia changed topics drastically.
A justified question. They still hadn’t come across a single civilized soul. Some more goblins, who avoided the party as much as the party them. After getting a good view of the adventurers, the greenskins had deemed that this hunt would cost them more than it would gain. Chasing down a boar was less risky than a party of four armed strangers, all of whom were of a species none of the goblins had ever encountered before. Even if they had no idea what an adventurer was capable of, they kept their distance. Being more risk taking did not equal suicidal tendencies.
The only sapient beings around stayed at arm’s length and otherwise there were no signs of civilization. Every now and again they stumbled upon signs of a ruined road, long reclaimed by nature. If there was no goal, travelling the Leaf was a waste of their time. To explore for exploring’s sake was something Adventurers did, there was a whole subsection of them that specialized in that. Those parties were typically made up of the upper crust of adventurers, since venturing into the unknown was among the most dangerous tasks.
“Four more days,” Apexus stated. “If we do not come across people after a week of travel, we will turn around.”
With that resolution made, they went onto their third day. The pace they put on was leisurely. It was the first time in the existence of the party that they were able to explore an environment without anything at the back of their mind. They were free of pursuers and duties. Plus, Reysha kept insisting that Apexus taste test various plants hoping they found anything that was even remotely touched by magic.
At the end of the day, they came across an interesting landmark. Apexus had spotted it from the air, a stone tower in pristine condition. Excited, the party hastened their approach.
It was of a light beige colour that rose intensely from the rest of the landscape. A dome of a greenish, dull colour sat atop the structure, its rim expanded into an eight-sided flat upheld by arches. A walkway of stone surrounded the base of the tower, ending parallel to the roof. The closer they got, the less their excitement became.
What appeared to be windows at first glance instead were dark depressions in the walls, leading nowhere. They were not looking at a tower, they were looking at a peculiar pillar. “This is a divine structure,” Aclysia reported, her hand resting against the rock. Disheartened, she let her head tilt forwards. A deep sigh escaped her.
“Never heard you that unhappy about finding something divine,” Korith commented.
“What is provided by the divine maintains itself. Therefore, this is as good as a mountain to us, in our search for civilization.” Aclysia turned her head to Reysha, who was impatiently pacing down the side of the building. “I wish to locate a dungeon in the near future. A map of the Leaf would be most useful for this.”
“So what now?” Reysha asked and gazed out at what was beyond the pillar: more water. “You know, I’d love a Leaf that isn’t almost entirely water.”
“Water is essential to sustain life.”
“Yes, I know, I’m from a desert,” Reysha responded drily. “You can have fresh water without putting oceans everywhere.”
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“You actually cannot,” Aclysia denied. Both Apexus and Reysha tilted their heads at that statement. “Are you aware that water evaporates under exposure to sunlight?” Nods all around. “Extend that revelation to the entirety of the ocean. No ocean, no evaporation, no rain, no freshwater.”
“You can still get water from wells and fountains, right?”
“Where do you believe the water from wells comes from? It's rainwater that is filtered through the ground.”
“…Huh…” Reysha scratched the back of her head. “You know what, you’re making a lot of sense right there. Never gave it that much thought… so Ragressia just doesn’t have enough oceans?”
“It’s either that or the weather patterns drive the vapour elsewhere, a jungle for example.” Aclysia inspected one of the depressions in the walls. “Gods have their options to provide water, of course, but I reckon it is most popular to leave it to a self-perpetuating system to regulate the movement of moisture throughout the Leaf. The Spark-bearing minds of the Omniverse have a habit of abusing it when an endless source of water is provided centrally. I have read about it in one of… Pronthin’s books.”
The name caused the metal fairy to fall silent for a bit. Apexus’ voice pulled her out of it. “What do they do?”
“What societies always do: assign property. Those that find the fountain monopolize it and use it to further their own influence. Unlike a structure, rain cannot be controlled. Not without the kind of large scale, magical effort that the operation is doomed to collapse under its own size.” Aclysia brushed over some symbols etched into the stone. A difficult to decipher phrase, as she soon realized. “Call the serpent to travel the serpent?”
“Huh?” Korith wandered over.
“It’s written here: ‘Call the serpent to travel the serpent’?” Aclysia tilted her head quizzically. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Apexus stood a few steps removed, watching his melody attempt to crack the meaning of that. When he had an idea, he just shouted, “SERPENT!”
Reysha began to laugh. “Are you for re- Woah there!” The ground trembled. The party rapidly coalesced at one spot, Apexus and Korith taking position in front of Aclysia. Reysha crouched, hid her presence, and readied a throwing dagger. Their eyes dashed around for the cause of the trembling.
The water close to the temple rippled, then rose. Rapid displacement caused the surface to rise in a dome-like shape. Rapidly, that was destroyed by the water running off the gargantuan creature that rose from the waves.
Corals cracked and fell off the serpent. Blue scales became visible, as complacent marine life was forced to vacate a long comfortable anchoring place. Strings of algae draped across the stone head of the being. Its eyes were spheres of crystal, sparkling in the fading light of the day. They possessed no light of their own.
The serpent tilted mechanically left to right, the segments of its body stretching and revealing joints of metal underneath the rock exterior. The scales were mere decoration, carved into the plates of stone that overlapped to create the impression of a serpent.
Slowly the construct lowered its head onto the shore. Steam rose from its surface, drying it and turning the clinging algae into shrivelled up strings. Between the nostrils, a flight of stairs was revealed by the receding marine life. The start of a path that led up to the flat top of the head. The party remained inert for a little while and so did the serpent.
“Guess that’s our answer,” Reysha broke the silence. She put the throwing dagger back into its slot on her belt and followed Apexus. The humanoid chimera was already stepping up to what he had summoned.
Testing, he placed a foot on the first step. Through the naked sole, he sensed thoroughly for any kind of tremor. Although the sense was dulled somewhat by the decrease in surface area he dedicated to it, it was still far above that of virtually all other sapient species. Nothing moved within the construct, neither then nor when he took another step. With growing confidence he climbed the staircase. “Wait,” he told Reysha.
“Awww, buwt I wawna discawah daw tingy,” Reysha spoke in a sickly sweet tone.
“I can fly, you’d have to swim,” he stated, unfazed by her attempt to persuade him. That was the wrong tone to reason with him anyway. Reysha knew that he found that tone to be so cute it became annoying, which was why she used it sparingly.
“Urgh, fine,” Reysha took a step backwards. Then, when he turned away, she rapidly ascended the stairs and tried to tackle him from behind. Apexus sensed her approach. He whirled around and attempted to grab her. She dove underneath his arm. Then she hugged his midriff. “Tag, I win.”
Apexus wordlessly put his hand between her ears. Purring under the gentle touch, Reysha relaxed her hug. When he turned back to the top of the head, she fully let go and walked alongside him. To try and scold a tiger out of what it wanted was an exercise doomed to fail. This was twice as true for tiger girls.
The flat part at the top was, as it turned out, the rim of a circular bench. A low crystal sat at the centre, emanating a pleasant warmth. Unneeded, in this current weather, but pleasant nonetheless. Hovering above it was a magically conjured number that ticked down, second by second. Twenty minutes, it displayed.
Deeming the situation safe, Apexus climbed onto an eye of the serpent and gestured for the remaining two-party members to come over. “What do you think this means?” he asked Aclysia, gesturing at the countdown.
Aclysia considered the question carefully. “The statement was that we must call the serpent to travel the serpent… this may be a transportation device of sorts? You did say that the appearance of the western tip of the island invoked the sensation of a serpent’s head, correct?”
“Correct, but only my observation,” Apexus cautioned.
“C-could this be a weapon? Maybe it will attack us?” Korith added.
“The chance is not null, however I deem it to be miniscule. The specific word was travel. I also do not believe that the observation is a coincidence, if there is a serpentine theme going on in this Leaf’s aesthetic. The divine would have shaped the landmass and river with deliberation. On its own, I would have put it aside as a coincidence, but with the instruction in mind I assume that the core of this leaf is a serpent-shaped island chain. This is likely the means to traverse it meant to alleviate the burden of needing ships.”
Reysha scraped some dried algae off the ground. “Doesn’t look like people make much use of that offer.”
“No, it does not… Darling, I believe this Leaf may be forsaken.”
“How certain are you of that?”
Aclysia took some time deliberating the odds and shook her head in the end. “I cannot say, which is an admission of a high likelihood of me being incorrect. It could be that, since inter-Leaf commerce is simply unattractive, the inhabitants of this world have surrendered the island to the goblins and therefore avoid travel.”
“The important question is what we do now,” Korith said and sat down on the bench. “Do we just keep going?”
“Yes,” Apexus stated firmly. “We stick to the plan until we are certain that there’s no one out there.”
“Then I guess we’re sleeping on this thing tonight.” Reysha plopped down on the crystal. “Provided this really does start moving.”
Eighteen minutes later, she had her answer. The serpent’s blue form was almost free of any sticking aspects of marine life now. Everything had been magically dried out and discarded, leaving it grimy but in shape. One heavy rainfall or a dip underwater would clean it.
It got neither. The construct turned on the spot, directing its snout to the south-east. Gradually it began to move, picking up speed until Apexus would have struggled to keep up with it if he could have run next to it. Aclysia stayed up that night, watching over the party and the path the serpent took. For hours on end, they drifted through the open ocean. On the second half of the journey, they came across a couple of islands, some so small they only served as resting places for seals. Others were large enough that one could have run a farm on them.
On the serpentine construct, they crossed the same distance they had walked during the day over the course of the night. They slept light, Reysha most of all, who awoke several times with her stomach growling. What rations they had, she refused to touch, opting to hope their luck was better where this took them.
They were all awake again and the sun had risen by the time they saw their stopping point. A pillar much like the one they had started at stood at the shore of another island. To the party, this one appeared larger, albeit these things were difficult to gauge.
Once it had stopped, the vehicle lowered its head and let them disembark. Korith was the last to jump off the snout of the construct. Straightening back up, it proceeded to disappear back into the water off the shore, sinking until it was invisible to the naked eye.
“Let’s see what we find here,” Apexus said.